In Other News, Searches for "Federal Bailout Money" Also on the Rise

If it’s true that misery loves company, it may be of some comfort to know that searches for econalypse-related terms have spiked over the past year. According to new U.S. data from comScore, search engine queries for “bankruptcy” rose 156 percent from December 2007 to 2.5 million. Meanwhile, searches for “unemployment” and “unemployment benefits” saw even sharper increases in interest, rising 206 percent and 247 percent, respectively. “Mortgage” and “foreclosure” have also been top of mind for Web surfers. Searches for those terms grew 72 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

Interesting data points, all, but nothing surprising really.

“Online behavior has come to reflect the interests or concerns of Americans, and we are certainly seeing this manifest itself with respect to the economic downturn,” comScore (SCOR) chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. “Search volume using terms relating to the economy has ballooned over the past year as Americans have become increasingly concerned over their economic wellbeing.”